Oxford council looks to overhaul its Downtown Development Authority board

By LARA MOSSA

Thursday, June 27, 2013

OXFORD -- Oxford Village Council members want to overhaul the Downtown Development Authority board and appoint new members, since the DDA ended this fiscal year with a $15,000 deficit.

Council members this week asked the village attorney, Robert Davis, if they have the right under state law to replace the board members before the end of their terms.

Current board members are Tony Albensi, who is not appointed and serves because he is the Village Council president; William Dunn and Dorothy Roberts-Johnson, whose terms end in 2015; James Bielak and Mickey Tanskersley, whose terms end in 2014; and Ann Taylor, Tom Jones and Ed Hunwick, whose terms end in 2013. DDA board members serve three-year terms.

Currently, there is one vacancy on the board.

Created by the village, the DDA operates separately and has a separate fund. Since the DDA ended this year with a $15,000 deficit, the money had to be transferred from the village's general fund, Village Manager Joe Young said.

To prevent that from happening this fiscal year, which begins July 1, the council eliminated the DDA executive director position. Madonna Van Fossen, who earned about $48,000 a year, held the position for nearly five years. There was no provision in her contract for severance pay.

"There have been tax appeals that have been pending for three years that got settled this year," Young said. "(The board) had to pay out about $30,000 that they hadn't anticipated."

However, the board also spent money they don't have, said Susan Bossardet, a council member appointed in February.

"The village has to pick up paying the bills," she said. "I don't think that's right. That practice has to be stopped."

In addition, the DDA chair William Dunn asked the board to set goals six months ago but has not received anything, she said.

So, the council has expressed an interest in replacing the current board with people who are more knowledgeable about spending tax dollars such as the library director or

"Sometimes, government and municipal accounting is much different than your personal checkbook."

Bossardet would like to see the board focus more on the economic development of the district rather than just planning events, she added.

This year, the DDA board has a $309,840 budget with nothing in reserves and expects to have $57,495 in reserves by the end of the year.